


If I could still Have You

by pallasjoanna



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: 5+1 Things, AU, AU collection, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-29
Updated: 2013-11-29
Packaged: 2018-01-02 23:16:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1062822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pallasjoanna/pseuds/pallasjoanna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five things that never happened to them and one that still might.</p>
            </blockquote>





	If I could still Have You

**Author's Note:**

> As the summary implies, it's all AUs.

**i.**

When Wan falls—a pool of blood surrounding his broken body and Vaatu roars with laughter—a part of her dies along with him.

 

She is reborn after ten thousand years as the world reforms from darkness as well. There is not much left to look forward to except for her eternal struggle. And in those brief moments of respite, she stares up at the stars and thinks about a man with brown eyes and a good heart.

**ii.**

“I have never understood why you are so fond of humans.”

“They’re a pretty resilient bunch. What’s not to like?” Wan asks, twirling a spark between his fingers.

Raava shakes her head. It’s been centuries since she has met the other spirit and she has yet to fully understand him. “They certainly don’t like us. They tolerate you but that’s because you stole fire for them.”

“Four hundred forty years later and you still bring it up,” he mutters under his breath.

**iii.**

The smoke of smoldering houses burns his nose even from Raava’s room.

“It’s really bad out there,” he tells her, wincing as she cleans a long gash at his side. A horde of dark spirits had suddenly attacked their city and if it weren’t for the Lion Turtle’s fire… he shudders to think of it.

She tears off a long strip of cloth from one of her clothes. “The Great Spirit is losing,” she says matter-of-factly, but her brows are furrowed in worry. “If it goes on like this, then at the Harmonic Convergence…”

“But what can we do?” He’s tried talking to the spirits once. Barely a sentence got out of his mouth before even Aye-aye was at his throat as he fell under Vaatu’s influence again. Raava told him once that he only grew stronger with chaos and strife, and with the way the way things are now, it is looking pretty bleak.

For a long moment, there is only the sound of their breathing. Raava looks out of the balcony, the dark of the night making her iridescent markings glow brighter. She sighs and her eyes catch his.

“You have to take me to the spirit world. “

_What?_  “I don’t think—“ he starts, but she cuts him off.

“I have the Great Spirit’s light within me. Perhaps I could help her.”

It’s the first time he’s ever heard Raava acknowledge the tale: the spirit-touched princess, frail and weak at birth but deemed worthy to be given a second life by her namesake. Light and life.

Life.

He takes her hand and stares at it as his heart seizes with fear. “No,” he whispers. “If you do that—“

“Then I’ll just be giving her back my borrowed time.” He expects her to have that Face on again, the one so smooth and unaffected that he nearly believes it, but her voice trembles and he looks back at her. Her mouth curves into a tiny smile.

He’s learned long ago that there is no use arguing with her once she sets her mind on something. It’s something that is sometimes infuriating but so wonderfully Raava at the same time. “I’ll take you there,” he finally says and his chest aches, already anticipating the sharp jagged edges of pain and loss. “And I’ll protect you for as long as I can, but you should know—“ He puts one hand on her cheek, thumb tracing the curling blue there. “—I don’t want to lose you.”

“And I still want to gaze at the stars with you, but it doesn’t seem like we shall be able to.” Raava closes her eyes. “So I want you to know this.”

She leans forward and captures his mouth in a kiss.

**iv.**

Their supplies at this point were only composed of a couple of days’ food and tea leaves. Whenever she has to go into a Lion Turtle city, she always left Wan outside with Mula, thinking that perhaps, with the general uneasiness of the people, they won’t take too kindly to the presence of a spirit, even if he does happen to be the spirit of light and peace.

But she can feel him here, a warm orange feeling in the back of mind. The question: where is he?

She passes a couple of coins to the vendor for steamed buns when she feels her skin prickle. She whirls on her feet, expecting to see a glowing white-orange kite spirit in the middle of the street who sometimes liked to defy his very description.

Instead, she sees a man wearing travel-worn clothes and a bright red scarf that hooded his face.

I must be mistaken, she thinks. She starts to walk past the man when he tips his chin up, ever so slightly that only Raava could see the orange marking on his forehead.

Brown eyes stare at her.

“Hi. Miss me?”

“You—what—how—?” Groaning, she holds up a hand as he opens a mouth to reply. “Why are you here?” she asks instead. It comes out a little harsh, but the spirit didn’t seem to notice. She takes his hand and leads him away from the villagers.

He pulls back on her grip. “You did say once that spirits and humans should learn to understand each other.” He shrugs, and it’s disconcerting to see such a normal action on him. “So I thought of this.”

That is a good point. “I’m sorry.” She sighs. With the Harmonic Convergence drawing near, she has found her temper higher than before, with the knowledge that the fate of the world rests on her shoulders now. Her fingers twirl around, an old habit, and a light breeze blows through her hair.

Wan presses a finger to her forehead, smoothing out the crease between her brows. “I know I dragged you into this in the first place, but,” he says with a smile. “I think we’re going to be alright.”

It makes her smile too, and if she blushed, well, she can always blame it on the heat.

**v.**

After the Harmonic Convergence, Wan realizes how much he’s thankful for the fact that he never intervened the day he saw the two spirits fighting.

The spirit world is the loudest it has ever been in celebration of a new era of peace. A throng of spirits clusters at the center of a pavilion, dancing (at least he thinks it is) to horns and drums while Aye-Aye passes drinks all around. He waves to Wan.

“Stinky! I thought you humans are fond of celebrations.”

True, but here, he feels out of place for the first time in years in the spirit world. “Just need some air. I’ll be back in a while,” he shouts over the music.

At night, the spirit world is every bit the mystical land the stories tell. The moonlight bathes the spirit oasis in light and the smell of the earth and trees comfort him. This is his home now.

(He thinks of Jaya and Yao and wonders about how they are. )

No. A part of him will always belong there, even if he has made a home here.

“It’s rare to see a human in the spirit world.”

Startles out of his reverie, he turns. A glowing spirit floats toward him, its light a stark contrast against the night.

“But I’ve heard stories about you. About how you have tried to unite the humans and spirits.”

Raava. His mind scrambles for a moment, wondering if there is any proper spirit etiquette for this kind of thing. The air grows pleasantly warm as she draws nearer.

“Yup, that’s me,” he blurts out.

“Hm. I just wanted to thank you.” She settles down beside him.” That act has helped me bring about another ten thousand years of peace, at least.”

His heart feels a little heavier in his chest. Spirit-human skirmishes never left anyone or anything unscathed. “It’s not—“ The memories of burning villages and forests still haunt him until now. “I haven’t done enough.”

A pause. “Yes, it is not even half-done.”

The faint strains of music from the pavilion reach all the way here; Wan finds himself tapping the rhythm on the ground.

“I was wrong about humans, and I suppose I still have much to learn,” Raava continues. “So if you do not have any objections, I would like you to show me the human world.”

“Show?”

“Not just the scenery. The humans. If you want to continue what you have started, then a spirit must understand humans as well, yes?”

She holds out a glowing tendril.

“I’d be happy to help,” he grins and takes it.

….

…

..

.

**0.**

“Korra saved the world.”

“Both of you saved it. Together.”

“Perhaps.”

A pause.

 “So, I guess it wasn’t forever.”

She glares at him. “Ten thousand years and you have to say that to me?”

He laughs, and even that is slowly fading away. Korra has been determined to connect once more to her past lives, but broken things are never the same whole again, she reminds herself. Just before he vanishes entirely, she presses her forehead to his.

And breathes.

“I’ll miss you.”

**Author's Note:**

> I tried putting hints especially in two to four as to what kind of AU it was but in case you didn't get it:  
> i. Wan dies at the Harmonic Convergence AU  
> ii. Spirit!Waava AU  
> iii. Princess Raava (a la Princess Yue) AU  
> iv. Role Reversal AU  
> v. Wan and Raava meet only after the Harmonic Convergence AU


End file.
